During the last weeks of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, warships of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
and the
Royal New Zealand Navy
The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...
bombarded industrial and military facilities in Japan. Most of these
bombardments
A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or towns and buildings.
Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended objects, ...
were conducted by
battleships and
cruisers, and caused heavy damage to several of the targeted factories, as well as nearby
civilian
Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...
areas. A major goal of the attacks was to provoke the Japanese military into committing some of its reserve force of aircraft into battle. However, the Japanese did not attempt to attack the Allied bombardment forces, and none of the involved warships suffered any damage.
The major bombardments began on 14 and 15 July 1945, when US Navy warships attacked the cities of
Kamaishi
is a city located on the Sanriku rias coast in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 32,609, and a population density of 74 persons per km2, in 16,230 households. The total area of the city is
Geography
Kamaishi ...
and
Muroran
is a city and port located in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Iburi Subprefecture. As of February 29, 2012, the city has an estimated population of 93,716, with 47,868 households and a population density of . The ...
. The next attack was made by a joint American and British force against the city of
Hitachi during the night of 17/18 July. Groups of cruisers and
destroyers subsequently shelled the Nojima Saki area on 18 July, and Shionomisaki on the night of 24/25 July. On 29 July, American and British warships attacked
Hamamatsu
is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was .
Overview
Ha ...
, and on the night of 30/31 several American destroyers shelled
Shimizu. The final bombardment took place on 9 August, when Kamaishi was attacked again by American, British and New Zealand warships. Two US Navy submarines conducted small-scale attacks during June and July 1945; one of the submarines also landed a small raiding party.
The Allied naval bombardments disrupted industrial production in the cities targeted, and convinced many Japanese civilians that the war was lost. Up to 1,739 Japanese were killed in the attacks, and about 1,497 were wounded. The only Allied casualties were 32 Allied
prisoners of war killed in the bombardments of Kamaishi.
Background
By mid-1945, during the last weeks of World War II, cities and industrial facilities in the Japanese
home islands were
under sustained attack from
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
(USAAF)
B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 F ...
heavy bombers based in the
Mariana Islands. Attacks by
Allied submarines and surface ships had also cut most of the country's trade routes, and US Navy aircraft carrier task groups had raided locations in the home islands on several occasions. Shortages of fuel had confined most of the
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...
's surviving ships to port and forced them and the
Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ja, 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊, Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai, lit=Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps) was the aviation force of the Im ...
to hold its air units in reserve against the
Allied invasion that was expected late in the year. Prior to the war, the Japanese military had assessed that
coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications.
From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of ...
was no longer suited to the country's circumstances. As a result, only a few strategic ports were protected by artillery capable of engaging enemy warships, and most of these guns were of relatively small
caliber.
During the
Pacific War, the US Navy's
fast battleship
A fast battleship was a battleship which emphasised speed without – in concept – undue compromise of either armor or armament. Most of the early World War I-era dreadnought battleships were typically built with low design speeds, s ...
s had mainly been used to escort the groups of
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
s that formed the
United States Pacific Fleet
The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor ...
's main striking force. They had also occasionally bombarded Japanese positions near the shore and had fought some actions with Japanese warships.
Allied naval commanders decided to use battleships to conduct a series of attacks against Japanese coastal cities in mid-1945. It was hoped that the Japanese military would respond to these bombardments by attacking the Allied forces with the aircraft that were being held in reserve to respond to the planned invasion of Japan, thereby exposing these aircraft to destruction by Allied fighter aircraft. However, the Japanese
Imperial General Headquarters
The was part of the Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equivalent to the United States ...
had anticipated that the Allies would conduct bombardments and other operations with this goal and decided to not attack naval forces operating off Japan. Instead, the aircraft would remain in reserve until Allied landing operations in the home islands began.
[Giangreco (2009), p. 88]
Bombardments
First attack on Kamaishi
On 1 July 1945, the
United States Third Fleet
The United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering S ...
sortied from
Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao Isl ...
in the Philippines under the command of Admiral
William Halsey
William Frederick "Bull" Halsey Jr. (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959) was an American United States Navy, Navy admiral during World War II. He is one of four officers to have attained the rank of five-star Fleet admiral (United States), f ...
to attack the Japanese home islands. Halsey's plans included the use of battleships and
cruisers to bombard military facilities and factories. To prepare for these attacks, US Navy
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s sailed into Japan's inshore waters to search for
naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...
s. USAAF B-29 Superfortress and
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
aircraft also conducted photo reconnaissance flights over much of Japan in search of airfields and facilities which could be attacked by the Third Fleet.
The Third Fleet's main component,
Task Force 38
The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet), was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through the end of the war in August 1945. The tas ...
(TF 38), began striking targets in Japan on 10 July under the command of Vice Admiral
John S. McCain. On this day, aircraft flying from the Task Force's aircraft carriers attacked facilities around Tokyo. Task Force 38 sailed north, and on 14 July began raids on
Hokkaido
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
and northern
Honshu
, historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...
. These areas were outside the range of the B-29 Superfortress bombers, and had at that point not been attacked in the war. The American aircraft met little opposition, and sank 11 warships and 20 merchant ships. A further eight warships and 21 merchant ships were damaged, and the carrier aviators claimed to have destroyed 25 Japanese aircraft.
![Bombardment of Kamaishi, Japan, 14 July 1945 - 80-G-490143](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Bombardment_of_Kamaishi%2C_Japan%2C_14_July_1945_-_80-G-490143.jpg)
The first Allied bombardment of a Japanese coastal town was conducted on 14 July in conjunction with the air attacks on Hokkaido and northern Honshu. A bombardment group commanded by Rear Admiral
John F. Shafroth Jr.
John Franklin Shafroth Jr. (March 31, 1887 – September 1, 1967) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral. He distinguished himself as Commander of destroyer USS ''Terry'' during World War I and re ...
designated Task Unit 34.8.1 (TU 34.8.1) was detached from TF 38 to attack the ironworks at
Kamaishi
is a city located on the Sanriku rias coast in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 32,609, and a population density of 74 persons per km2, in 16,230 households. The total area of the city is
Geography
Kamaishi ...
in northern Honshu. At the time the city had a population of 40,000 and the ironworks was among the largest in Japan.
[Morison (1960), p. 312][Royal Navy (1995), p. 218] However, due to shortages of
coking coal
Metallurgical coal or coking coal is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking. The demand for metallurgical coal is highly coupled ...
and other raw materials, the ironworks was running at less than half its capacity.
[Morison (1960), p. 313] Allied
prisoners of war had been assigned to work at the Nippon Steel Company, and were housed in two camps in Kamaishi. TU 34.8.1 comprised the battleships , and as well as the
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Tr ...
s and and nine
destroyers.
The bombardment group opened fire on the ironworks at 12:10p.m. from a range of . The ships then moved closer to the city, but did not cross the 100-
fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...
line as no
minesweepers
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
were available to clear the area of mines. The bombardment lasted for over two hours, during which time the force made six passes across the mouth of Kamaishi's harbor and fired 802 shells, 728 shells and 825 shells. While most of the shells landed within the grounds of the ironworks, the concussion from their explosions caused kitchen fires to break out across Kamaishi. The resulting smoke prevented US Navy aircraft from being able to support or spot for the warships, which continued to fire accurately on predetermined targets. No Japanese aircraft or coastal guns responded to this bombardment.
[ Allied aircraft photographed the ironworks following the attack, but photo interpreters underestimated the extent to which they had been damaged. This was one of the first times that the Americans had used aerial photography to assess damage from a naval bombardment, and the interpreters placed too much weight on the fact that none of the ironworks' buildings had been destroyed. The Allies learned after the war that the ironworks had been extensively damaged and forced to cease production for a period. This resulted in a loss of the equivalent of four weeks of ]pig iron
Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...
production and months of coke production.[ The attack destroyed 1460 houses in the city, and killed 424 civilians. A total of 28 Japanese naval personnel also perished when their Type 28 submarine chaser was sunk in Kamaishi harbor by shellfire.] Five Allied prisoners of war were killed by the bombardment.[Banham (2009), p. 207]
Muroran
On the night of 14/15 July, another bombardment unit—TU 34.8.2—was detached from TF 38 to attack Muroran
is a city and port located in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Iburi Subprefecture. As of February 29, 2012, the city has an estimated population of 93,716, with 47,868 households and a population density of . The ...
on the south-east coast of Hokkaido. TU 34.8.2 was commanded by Rear Admiral Oscar C. Badger and comprised the battleships , and , the light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
s and , and eight destroyers.[ Admiral Halsey accompanied this force on board ''Missouri''.][Potter (1985), p. 343] The targets of this attack were the Japan Steel Company's facilities and the Wanishi Iron Works.[ Also that night, a force of four cruisers and six destroyers cruised along the east coast of Honshu seeking to attack Japanese shipping, but did not locate any targets.
TU 34.8.2's bombardment began at dawn on 15 July. The three battleships fired 860 shells at the city from a range of . Aerial observation and spotting of damage was made difficult by hazy conditions, and only 170 shells landed within the grounds of the two plants. Nevertheless, considerable damage was inflicted on the industrial facilities, resulting in the loss of months of coke production and slightly less pig iron production. Damage to buildings across the city was also extensive. As with the bombardment of Kamaishi, photo interpreters underestimated the scale of the damage.][Morison (1960), p. 314] TU 34.8.2 was highly vulnerable to air attack throughout the more than six hour period in which it was visible from the shore of Hokkaido, and Halsey later wrote that these were the longest hours of his life. The failure of the Japanese to attack his ships convinced Halsey that they were preserving aircraft for use against the Allied invasion force.[ On 15 July, aircraft flying from TF 38's aircraft carriers struck again at Hokkaido and northern Honshu, devastating the fleet of ships that carried coal between the two islands.][
]
Hitachi
The attacks on Hokkaido and northern Honshu ended on 15 July, and TF 38 sailed away from the Japanese coast to refuel and rendezvous with the main body of the British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. The fleet was composed of empire naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944 from the remaining ships ...
, which was designated Task Force 37 (TF 37).[ On the morning of 17 July, the British and American carriers attacked targets to the north of Tokyo. Later that day, TU 34.8.2 detached from the carrier force to bombard targets around the city of Hitachi, about northeast of Tokyo. This force was commanded by Rear Admiral Badger and comprised the battleships ''Iowa'', ''Missouri'', ''Wisconsin'', , , and , light cruisers ''Atlanta'' and ''Dayton'', and eight American and two British destroyers. ''King George V'' and her two escorts sailed astern of the American force, and operated independently.][Royal Navy (1995), p. 220] Halsey again accompanied this force on board ''Missouri''.
The bombardment of the Hitachi area took place on the night of 17/18 July. Rain and fog made locating the targets difficult and prevented spotting aircraft from flying, but several carrier aircraft flew protective patrols over the bombardment force.[ The Allied warships opened fire at 11:10p.m., and aimed at their targets using radar and ]LORAN
LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range u ...
.[Royal Navy (1995), pp. 220–221] The attackers targeted nine industrial facilities, and ''King George V'' was assigned similar targets to those engaged by the American battleships. By the time the bombardment ceased at about 1:10a.m., the American battleships had fired 1,238 shells, and the British battleship 267 shells. The two light cruisers also fired 292 shells at radar and electronics installations south of Hitachi. All firing was conducted at a range of .[Morison (1960), p. 316]
The attack on Hitachi had mixed results. Only three of the bombardment's nine targets were hit, and the overall damage to the city's industrial area was assessed as "slight". However, the attack inflicted considerable damage on the city's urban area and essential services. This damage was greatly increased by a B-29 raid on Hitachi on the night of 18/19 July that destroyed or damaged 79 percent of the city's urban area.[Royal Navy (1995), p. 221] The official history An official history is a work of history which is sponsored, authorised or endorsed by its subject. The term is most commonly used for histories which are produced for a government. The term also applies to commissions from non-state bodies includin ...
of the US Navy in World War II states that "individual Japanese" considered the naval bombardment to have been more terrifying than the air attack.[
]
Nojima Saki and Shionomisaki
On 18 July TFs 37 and 38 conducted further air strikes in the Tokyo area, with the American force's main effort being an attempt to sink the Japanese battleship at Yokosuka Naval Base.[ That night, Cruiser Division 17 (CruDiv 17), which comprised the light cruisers , , , and and six destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral J. Cary Jones, fired 240 shells at a radar station on over a five-minute period, but did not hit it.][Royal Navy (1995), p. 222]
After completing its strikes on the Tokyo region, the Allied fleet conducted an at-sea replenishment from 21 to 23 July before attacking Kure and the Inland Sea from the 24th to the 28th of the month. On the night of 24–25 July, CruDiv 17 patrolled the Kii Channel
The , also called the Kii Strait, is a strait separating the Japanese island of Shikoku from the Kii Peninsula on the main island of Honshū. This strait connects the Inland Sea with the Pacific Ocean.
The name of the strait derives from Ki ...
and bombarded the naval seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
base at Kushimoto
270px, Shionomisaki Southernmost Point Park
is a coastal town located in Higashimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 15,192 in 8354 households and a population density of 110 persons per km2. The ...
, a landing field near Cape Shionomisaki
is a headland located in southern Kii Peninsula in the Kansai Region of Japan. It is located within the borders of the town of Kushimoto in Wakayama Prefecture, and is the most southerly point of the island of Honshu, and Wakayama Prefecture. Muc ...
, and a radio station. This attack lasted for only four minutes and caused little damage.[Morison (1960), p. 331]
Hamamatsu
On 29 July, a group of warships was detached from the main body of the Allied fleet to bombard the city of Hamamatsu
is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was .
Overview
Ha ...
, which lies on the south coast of Honshu between Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...
and Tokyo. This force comprised the same ships which had attacked Kamaishi on 14 July with the addition of ''King George V'' and the destroyers , and ; the four British ships were designated Task Unit 37.1.2 (TU 37.1.2). The Task unit was again under command of Rear admiral John F. Shafroth Jr.
John Franklin Shafroth Jr. (March 31, 1887 – September 1, 1967) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral. He distinguished himself as Commander of destroyer USS ''Terry'' during World War I and re ...
The city had previously suffered extensive damage from air attacks.[Royal Navy (1995), p. 224]
The British and American ships engaged their targets independently. ''King George V'' opened fire at the Japan Musical Instrument Company's Plant No. 2 (which was being used to manufacture aircraft propellers) at 11:19 p.m. from a range of . The battleship fired 265 rounds at the plant in 27 minutes and was able to make use of artillery spotting aircraft, with visibility being good. Even so, little damage was inflicted on the facility. ''Massachusetts'' fired at Plant No. 1 but scored only a few hits. Despite the limited physical damage, the shelling caused increased labor absenteeism and disruption to vital services that caused the factory to cease production. The American ships also shelled the Imperial Government Railway locomotive works and three other industrial facilities.[Royal Navy (1995), pp. 224–225]
Of these targets, the locomotive works ceased operations for about three months due to damage, but two of the other facilities had almost ceased production before the attack and the third was not damaged. Two bridges on the important Tōkaidō Main Line
The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...
were fired upon but not hit, though damage to rail infrastructure in Hamamatsu closed the line for 66 hours. During the bombardment ''Undine'' twice opened fire on small groups of ships that were probably fishing boats. No Japanese aircraft or shore batteries responded to the Allied attack. The bombardment of Hamamatsu was the last time a British battleship fired its guns in anger.
Shimizu
The next bombardment of Japan took place on the night of 30/31 July. On that night Destroyer Squadron 25 (DesRon 25), which was commanded by Captain J.W. Ludewig aboard , searched the Suruga Gulf for Japanese shipping to attack. No ships were located, and in the early hours of 31 July the squadron sailed deep into the gulf and fired 1,100 rounds of shells during seven minutes at a railway yard and aluminum plant in Shimizu. The aluminum plant was hit, but this was of little importance as it had almost ceased production due to a shortage of raw materials. No damage was caused to the rail yard.[Morison (1960), p. 322]
Second attack on Kamaishi
During the last days of July and into early August, the Allied fleet sailed away from the Japanese coast to avoid a typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
and allow the ships to replenish their stocks of fuel and ammunition. The fleet then sailed north and, on both 9 and 10 August, the carrier aircraft attacked a large concentration of Japanese aircraft on airfields in northern Honshu. The carrier pilots claimed the destruction of 720 Japanese aircraft in this operation.[Royal Navy (1995), p. 226]
As part of these operations off northern Japan, Kamaishi was bombarded again on 9 August in the mistaken belief that the ironworks had not been badly damaged.[Royal Navy (1995), p. 219] TU 34.8.1 conducted this attack, and comprised the ships that had bombarded the city in July with the addition of the heavy cruisers and , British light cruiser , Royal New Zealand Navy
The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...
light cruiser HMNZS ''Gambia'', and destroyers , , and .[ ''King George V'' did not participate in this action as mechanical problems affecting two of her propeller shafts meant that she was unable to sail at the speed specified for the bombardment force.][Hobbs (2011), p. 285]
The Allied ships opened fire on the ironworks and docks in Kamaishi at 12:54p.m. The bombardment was conducted from an average range of and lasted for almost two hours. During this time, the ships made 4 passes across Kamaishi harbor and fired 803 shells, 1,383 shells, and 733 shells. ''Gambia'' fired the final shots of the attack. During the bombardment, several Japanese aircraft approached the Allied ships and two were shot down by Allied naval fighters. This bombardment caused more damage than the attack conducted in July, and large quantities of pig iron were destroyed.[ The attack was also directed against housing areas near the ironworks, destroying total of 1471 houses and killing 281 civilians.] The sounds of this bombardment were broadcast live on radio in the United States via a radio relay on board ''Iowa''.[Potter (1985), p. 346] One of the prisoner of war camps in Kamaishi was destroyed by this second Allied attack, resulting in the deaths of 27 Allied prisoners.
A further bombardment by ''King George V'', three light cruisers, and escorting destroyers was planned to be conducted against an unspecified Japanese target on 13 August. This attack was cancelled for both the battleship's mechanical problems and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
. The Allied fleet did not conduct any other bombardments, as Japan surrendered on 15 August.
Submarine attacks
Two US Navy submarines attacked locations in the Japanese home islands during June and July 1945. On 20 June arrived off Japan's northern islands under the command of Commander Gene Fluckey. For this patrol the submarine had been fitted with an experimental rocket launcher intended for shore bombardments. Shortly after midnight on 22 June the submarine fired 12 rockets at Shari in north-east Hokkaido.[Blair (2001), p. 866] ''Barb'' then proceeded north, and on 2 July bombarded Kaiyo in south-east Sakhalin
Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...
with its deck gun
A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret.
The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...
. This attack destroyed three sampan
A sampan is a relatively flat-bottomed Chinese and Malay wooden boat. Some sampans include a small shelter on board and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. The design closely resembles Western hard chine boats like th ...
s docked in the town, damaged a seal rookery and caused several fires to break out. The next day the submarine fired more rockets at Shisuka. A party of eight men from ''Barb'' was landed on the east coast of Sakhalin on 23 July and planted demolition charges on a railroad track. Shortly after the men began rowing back to the submarine the charges were triggered by a passing train; 150 people, including civilians, were killed. On 24 July, ''Barb'' fired 32 rockets at Shirutoru ( :ja:知取町) and 12 rockets at Kashiho, Motodomari ( :ja:元泊村). As the submarine returned to base it shelled Chiri on 25 July and Shibetoro the next day.[Blair (2001), p. 867] The attack on Shibetoro targeted a shipyard building sampans, and destroyed 35 newly built vessels.
The other submarine bombardment took place during the morning of 24 June, when fired some shells at the island of Hirado Shima in the Tsushima Strait
or Eastern Channel (동수로 Dongsuro) is a channel of the Korea Strait, which lies between Korea and Japan, connecting the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea.
The strait is the channel to the east and southeast of Tsushima ...
between Japan and Korea. This attack sought to convince the Japanese that a force of American submarines that had been operating in the Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
would attempt to depart via the Tsushima Strait, instead of their actual route far to the north through the La Pérouse Strait
La Pérouse Strait (russian: пролив Лаперуза), or Sōya Strait, is a strait dividing the southern part of the Russian island of Sakhalin from the northern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, and connecting the Sea of Japan on t ...
between Hokkaido and Sakhalin.
Results
Although the naval bombardments did not result in the reaction the Allies were hoping for from the Japanese military, they disrupted the country's steel industry. While several of the factories attacked were operating at reduced capacity, the important Kamaishi and Wanishi Iron Works suffered heavy damage when they were bombarded in July and August. During both these attacks, the Allied gunnery was accurate and focused on the factories' coke batteries, which were critical to continued production.[Royal Navy (1995), p. 231] Post-war assessments found that the damage caused to industrial buildings by even the approximately naval shells was less than that which could be inflicted by the and general-purpose bomb
A general-purpose bomb is an air-dropped bomb intended as a compromise between blast damage, penetration, and fragmentation in explosive effect. They are designed to be effective against enemy troops, vehicles, and buildings.
Characteristics ...
s that were used by Allied naval aircraft. While this supported a view put forward by Vice Admiral McCain that the aircraft assigned to protect the bombardment forces could have caused more damage than the ships themselves, the post-war United States Strategic Bombing Survey
The United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) was a written report created by a board of experts assembled to produce an impartial assessment of the effects of the Anglo-American strategic bombing of Nazi Germany during the European theatre o ...
judged that the naval bombardments were justified as there had been little risk to the ships involved.[Royal Navy (1995), p. 229]
The bombardments also affected Japanese morale. Japanese civilians who experienced both air and naval bombardment found the naval attacks to be more terrifying due to their unpredictability and longer duration. Several of the industrial facilities that suffered little damage in bombardments incurred a significant loss in production due to absenteeism and reduced productivity. This was not the case for all facilities that were attacked though, and the morale among workers in two of the bombarded factories was reported to have increased. The appearance of Allied warships just off the coast also convinced many Japanese that the war had been lost.[Frank (1999), p. 158] However, such attitudes did not contribute to bringing the war to an end as the views of civilians had little influence on the Japanese Government's decision to surrender.[Morison (1960), p. 333]
In 1949, the Japanese Economic Stabilization Agency calculated that the Allied naval bombardments and other forms of attack other than bombing had caused 3,282 casualties, representing 0.5 percent of all casualties inflicted by the Allies in the Japanese home islands. The casualties attributed to naval bombardments and other causes included 1,739 fatalities, 46 persons who were still classified as missing and 1,497 people who were wounded.[Economic Stabilization Agency (1949), pp. 1–2]
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{{World War II
Conflicts in 1945
1945 in Japan
naval bombardments
Naval battles and operations of World War II
Naval battles of World War II involving Japan
Naval battles of World War II involving the United States
Naval battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom
Naval battles of World War II involving New Zealand
July 1945 events in Asia
August 1945 events in Asia